Cameron wants to ban encryption – he can say goodbye to digital Britain

On Monday David Cameron managed a rare political treble: he proposed a policy that is draconian, stupid and economically destructive.

The prime minister made comments widely interpreted as proposing a ban on end-to-end encryption in messages – the technology that protects online communications, shopping, banking, personal data and more.

“[I]n our country, do we want to allow a means of communication between people which we cannot read?”, the prime minister asked rhetorically.

Cameron wants to ban encryption – he can say goodbye to digital Britain

So Cameron wants to ban all encrypted coms?

Is this man insane? The world governments and businesses could not possibly operate in such an environment, and I can't even see The US going for something as totalitarian as this.

a reply to: lifttheveil

Yes the man is insane, disconnected, and protects Paedos.

You know what they say, the only person that would protect a paedo is one themself.

He ooozes evil, straight out of his soulless eyes, to think that he does not wish for a complete totalitarian regime would be naive!

a reply to: lifttheveil

Well I mean we cant have a world where big brother isnt in absolute control, able to spy on everone at all times.

There will still be encryption, for him and his banker buddies and the government etc....

No, it is only meant for us peasants.

Next it will be illegal for us to learn about encryption, then tech, then learning to read so we cant efucate ourselves.

We have seen this all happen before.

It just shows once again though that he is incredibly stupid, and so too are those he surrounds himself with as highly paid advisory staff.

Perhaps the public should organize and set up 24x7 surveillance teams to follow and snoop on Cameron 24x7, as well as all the MP's. Followed everywhere they go, phones and internet under surveillance and everything they say broadcast and posted for all to see! I mean, it's only fair... right?

As a taxpayer funded organization, the government members must accept that they too must be under the same scrutiny as the rest of us, in order to make sure there are no moles or fifth columnists in the ranks.

a reply to: lifttheveil

Cameron is the worst and most naive prime minister britain has ever had. Regardless of whatever party this man represents, his attitude to life - hoora for all henry's, we all play cricket by the rules and hide our friends that don't -
and his stupid ideas that wouldn't even be taken up in kiddies comics, are pathetic and only illustrate how inappropriate this man's appointment as prime minister, with cousin queenies help, actually is for a political party here.

If you ban encryption then anyone could read anything making industrial spying as easy as logging on and banking wouild change overnight for ever. That might not be such a bad idea though.

Does he ever understand the implications of what he proposes and should this buy be simply given a dummy to hide the idiot he actually is. I have no faith in him whatsoever.

If you want another shining example of the extreme level of mental retardation they suffer from, check no further than this gaff by the 2010 Minister for 'Digital Britain'

"Copyright owners are currently able to go on-line (sic), look for material to which they hold the copyright and identify unauthorised sources for that material. They can then seek to download a copy of that material and in so doing capture information about the source including the Intellectual Property (IP) address..."

L ink to article

That's right, this 'expert' thinks that an IP address is an 'Intellectual Property' address, so not only does he lack any understanding in even the most basic principles and terminology that dominate his so-called area of expertise - but it also clearly shows where their true priorities lie.

They're so mind bogglingly stupid and lacking in any knowledge with regards to the real world and how it works, it truly makes one's head explode. They may as well be promising a unicorn for every child anyway, it will never work - even the Chinese work around their controlled to the extreme Internet. They'll have to put the UK on NK standards to get anywhere, meanwhile thanks to people like Google, Facebook and hopefully more independent companies everyone will just start using one of the future constellations of satellites/high altitude balloons/etc that may happen. Or people will wise up and run modified firmware in commercial routers with high gain antennas to make private wireless networks in their local communities/etc.

Luckily, the Government is so far from smart in their proposals and implementation you'd need to travel light years to get back to reality. Whatever they come up with there are people out there many, many times smarter that will always find a dozen ways to get around every single obstacle they try and set up.

a reply to: AgentSmith


I was just reading that too:

Sure, it's just a funny mistake on a single letter. But given the context of the entire debate, it looks like an unintentionally revealing peek into the government's collective mind on this issue. What's the main use for the basic plumbing of the Internet? Why, hunting down copyright infringers, of course!

Similar articale as posted above

Would the UK government still be using encryption for it's own purposes if such a (public) ban were placed? I highly doubt they would send sensitive data anywhere that anyone, foreign or domestic, could read.

Secrets for the government; none for the people. This does not sit well with me at all.

a reply to: Shiloh7

I have no faith in any of these pathetic, wet, public schooled, selfish, psychotic, perverted individuals...

Imagine being made to believe that these people are powerful leaders who can motivate the masses and solve the country's problems.

Life is like a satirical joke.

Typical hyperbolic nonsense from the Guardian and many in this thread...

He was speaking rhetorically - the Guardian even mentions that with a lot of "if's, but's and maybe's" thrown in order to add meat to the bones of what the PM said. He will be told that this simply isn't workable and even if any Bill get's put before parliament, it will be torn to shreds in the Committee's for the very reasons in the OP article.

It's time for UK ATS fellas to develop a secret language.

It is true that terrorists use encryption, much as in real life they use bank accounts, locks, money transfer services and public transport. If the presence of terrorists on a given service is reason enough to shut it down, we’ll find there’s really no form of civil society left to defend.

They can defend their castles after that.

a reply to: stumason

Typical response from anyone who would have that kind of propaganda as an avatar!

originally posted by: elementalgrove
a reply to: stumason

Typical response from anyone who would have that kind of propaganda as an avatar!

Patriotism as a form of control, that's what I always say.

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More from the Guardian on encryption.

a reply to: and14263

It works remarkably well!

Conditioned in over generations of servitude!

Ouch that is a bad one. Here I thought the US was bad about trying to track data on all users. That's just outright asking for the key to the front door, back door, side door and while we're at might as well hand over the tv remote as well.

With that kind of request makes me feel kind of safe over here in the US, not that I am really, and I'm sure our rep's want the same thing. They just don't say it out loud. Kind of worries me that he feels he's in a good enough position right now to make that kind of request or at least promote that kind of idea.

Anyone remember the days when our national rep's would be called crazy for making such a statement for fear of loosing their job?

It's amazing how quick after an event that governments choose to put their idea of change into action. Never let a crisis go to waste. Not while the people are scared and welcoming such protections on their safety. People need to stop being so scared of life. What's the point in going on in life if your going to spend it fearing irrational fears

It's pre-election big talk in the face of the Paris attack.

It's not viable and will be something his script writer threw in without considering the technical aspects.

a reply to: and14263

You can tell that there hasn't been a lot of genetically diverse material available in the creation of those people. The guy from Wallace and Gromit always looks especially peculiar.

a reply to: lifttheveil

This will never work...

Unless it will only be implemented on 'Social Media' sites!

Businesses won't allow it as they will lose customers... most would go back to shopping on the high street with cash!

'Banks' shouldn't allow such a thing either as it's against the T & C's. There could be may Lawsuits bought up.